Comments on: TiVo for Comcast and Cox – and a brief summary of other things http://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/ TiVo, Slingbox, Android, Blu-ray Disc, and whatever other tech I feel like blogging about... Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.4 By: TiVo Lovers Bloghttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-10651 TiVo Lovers Blog Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:00:43 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-10651 <strong>TiVo Service Now Available to CABLEVISION Subscribers in Mexico City...</strong>As TiVo announced would happen on their quarterly conference call a couple of weeks ago, TiVo is now available to CABLEVISION subscribers in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the Series2DT hardware with the new Spanish-language port of the TiVo software that... TiVo Service Now Available to CABLEVISION Subscribers in Mexico City…

As TiVo announced would happen on their quarterly conference call a couple of weeks ago, TiVo is now available to CABLEVISION subscribers in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the Series2DT hardware with the new Spanish-language port of the TiVo software that…

]]> By: megazonehttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1964 megazone Sun, 14 Jan 2007 02:05:54 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1964 My understanding is that there is some guide data locally stored, for the guide screen, etc, but some things are done on the server. Note that the demo at CES was a Motorola box talking to the local Cox MSO - which has a Scientific Atlanta head end. And the back end servers were in Alviso, CA, I believe. And it still performed very well. I think the search seemed faster than my Series3 today. So even if it uses the head end, performance seems good.I believe the remote can use different codes, but I'm not positive. Note that the new peanut does NOT have a 1-2 selector, the space is used for a new 'Stop' button and the A-D buttons.Episode descriptions, etc, are all still there, so there is data on the unit. I don't know the exact split between what happens on the head end and what happens locally.I asked about 30-second skip - unfortunately, the person I spoke to told me he's not aware of it being in the code today.I didn't get to 'drive' at all myself, TiVo made sure the remote was always in control by someone from TiVo while I was there, so I couldn't poke around and try things myself. He did say shortcuts work - TiVo+2 is the To Do List, for example. My understanding is that there is some guide data locally stored, for the guide screen, etc, but some things are done on the server. Note that the demo at CES was a Motorola box talking to the local Cox MSO – which has a Scientific Atlanta head end. And the back end servers were in Alviso, CA, I believe. And it still performed very well. I think the search seemed faster than my Series3 today. So even if it uses the head end, performance seems good.

I believe the remote can use different codes, but I’m not positive. Note that the new peanut does NOT have a 1-2 selector, the space is used for a new ‘Stop’ button and the A-D buttons.

Episode descriptions, etc, are all still there, so there is data on the unit. I don’t know the exact split between what happens on the head end and what happens locally.

I asked about 30-second skip – unfortunately, the person I spoke to told me he’s not aware of it being in the code today.

I didn’t get to ‘drive’ at all myself, TiVo made sure the remote was always in control by someone from TiVo while I was there, so I couldn’t poke around and try things myself. He did say shortcuts work – TiVo+2 is the To Do List, for example.

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1963 anonymous Sat, 13 Jan 2007 02:43:26 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1963 Does the guide data get saved to disk, or does it get lost on reboot like for the iguide?Does the Tivo remote use different IR codes, so that two boxes can live in the same room?Will Comcast be actually sending down expanded guide data, or is the existing guide data just supplemented by contact with the headend when needed for a search?Does 30 second skip work? Does the guide data get saved to disk, or does it get lost on reboot like for the iguide?

Does the Tivo remote use different IR codes, so that two boxes can live in the same room?

Will Comcast be actually sending down expanded guide data, or is the existing guide data just supplemented by contact with the headend when needed for a search?

Does 30 second skip work?

]]> By: megazonehttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1962 megazone Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:07:01 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1962 There's no communication with the back-end during normal operation, everything is on the box. Searching, guide, etc, is very responsive - you can see the video CNET posted that I just linked to in a new post here. During the time it was demoed for me I didn't notice any IR misses. There’s no communication with the back-end during normal operation, everything is on the box. Searching, guide, etc, is very responsive – you can see the video CNET posted that I just linked to in a new post here. During the time it was demoed for me I didn’t notice any IR misses.

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1961 anonymous Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:04:10 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1961 Since its not running on the raw hardware, and has to interface with Comcast's back-end, I'm wondering if the delay problems that plague these DVRs will be any better with the Tivo interface than with the existing DVR interface...When you press play after fast-forward, does it switch almost immediately or is there a l-o-n-g delay?Does the box miss a lot of the IR commands you send it?Is the guide relatively responsive, or are there long delays while it contacts the back-end to fetch the data or do the search...Glenn Since its not running on the raw hardware, and has to interface with Comcast’s back-end, I’m wondering if the delay problems that plague these DVRs will be any better with the Tivo interface than with the existing DVR interface…

When you press play after fast-forward, does it switch almost immediately or is there a l-o-n-g delay?

Does the box miss a lot of the IR commands you send it?

Is the guide relatively responsive, or are there long delays while it contacts the back-end to fetch the data or do the search…

Glenn

]]> By: megazonehttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1960 megazone Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:55:59 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1960 The software is in field trials now and is expected to have initial availability soon. But Comcast hasn't said where it will start rolling out or how widespread it will be. They are expected to start out small - a city or two, and then spread it out steadily as they gain confidence in it.And yes, it is a downloadable upgrade to 3400 or 6400 series STBs already in the field, and they ship you the remote.I'll see if I can find out about the pass-through. The software is in field trials now and is expected to have initial availability soon. But Comcast hasn’t said where it will start rolling out or how widespread it will be. They are expected to start out small – a city or two, and then spread it out steadily as they gain confidence in it.

And yes, it is a downloadable upgrade to 3400 or 6400 series STBs already in the field, and they ship you the remote.

I’ll see if I can find out about the pass-through.

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1959 anonymous Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:08:52 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1959 Sorry - forgot to mention that I am on Comcast (not COX). Sorry – forgot to mention that I am on Comcast (not COX).

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1958 anonymous Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:07:32 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1958 Thanks for this great report! Sorry if I missed it but did they say anything about when this offering will start to roll out to customers? I am in Maryland (DC metro area).Also do I understand correctly that they just roll out this software upon request onto your existing 64xx?Lastly and perhaps most importantly - do you know if this software will offer a native passthru mode with regards to output resolution? For instance the 6412 must be manually switched between 720p and 1080i which is a major PITA. I want a mode so that if the show is broadcast in 720p that what it outputs and if in 1080i that's what it'll output - as I want my high end scaler to do that work for me.Thanks again!! Thanks for this great report! Sorry if I missed it but did they say anything about when this offering will start to roll out to customers? I am in Maryland (DC metro area).

Also do I understand correctly that they just roll out this software upon request onto your existing 64xx?

Lastly and perhaps most importantly – do you know if this software will offer a native passthru mode with regards to output resolution? For instance the 6412 must be manually switched between 720p and 1080i which is a major PITA. I want a mode so that if the show is broadcast in 720p that what it outputs and if in 1080i that’s what it’ll output – as I want my high end scaler to do that work for me.

Thanks again!!

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1957 anonymous Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:51:17 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1957 On the Moto boxes, the 6400 and 3400 series are identical except that the 6400 can receive both digital and analog signals, whereas the 3400 can receive only digital signals. The 3400 is cheaper but it requires enough bandwidth on the feed so that you can have duplicates of all the basic channels, one in analog and one in digital.Thanks for the info. I'll post around a bit more, but either way it sounds like a significant improvement to the current I-Guide software. Now to figure out how to become a beta tester...hmmmm.... On the Moto boxes, the 6400 and 3400 series are identical except that the 6400 can receive both digital and analog signals, whereas the 3400 can receive only digital signals. The 3400 is cheaper but it requires enough bandwidth on the feed so that you can have duplicates of all the basic channels, one in analog and one in digital.

Thanks for the info. I’ll post around a bit more, but either way it sounds like a significant improvement to the current I-Guide software. Now to figure out how to become a beta tester…hmmmm….

]]> By: megazonehttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1956 megazone Wed, 10 Jan 2007 01:47:40 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1956 From what I can tell it is very TiVo-like in playback. But the box in the booth is a 6400, so I don't know if it is the same. And, honestly, I wasn't really scrutinizing the video playback, I was mostly looking at the UI. From what I can tell it is very TiVo-like in playback. But the box in the booth is a 6400, so I don’t know if it is the same. And, honestly, I wasn’t really scrutinizing the video playback, I was mostly looking at the UI.

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1955 anonymous Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:32:27 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1955 You didn't happen to see it fast forward, did you? The biggest downside to the current Moto 3412 I have is the horrible fast forwarding and lack of responsiveness. If Tivo has addressed this, it would be great. Having intuitive fast forwarding that jumped back when you hit play would be worth the monthly charge alone. The current sytem just freezes and then recognizes the remote command 4 pushes later....grrrrrrr....don't get me started <grin></grin> You didn’t happen to see it fast forward, did you? The biggest downside to the current Moto 3412 I have is the horrible fast forwarding and lack of responsiveness. If Tivo has addressed this, it would be great. Having intuitive fast forwarding that jumped back when you hit play would be worth the monthly charge alone. The current sytem just freezes and then recognizes the remote command 4 pushes later….grrrrrrr….don’t get me started

]]> By: krellishttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1954 krellis Tue, 09 Jan 2007 19:45:05 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1954 The new UI for the Comcast boxes looks wicked nice... now I'm upset that I'm going to be moving out of Comcast territory later this year. Here's hoping they ink a deal with Time Warner! :) And hopefully those features will be finding their way backported to the S2 and S3 sooner rather than later. Very sweet. The new UI for the Comcast boxes looks wicked nice… now I’m upset that I’m going to be moving out of Comcast territory later this year. Here’s hoping they ink a deal with Time Warner! :) And hopefully those features will be finding their way backported to the S2 and S3 sooner rather than later. Very sweet.

]]> By: megazonehttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1953 megazone Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:03:05 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1953 I asked about that and it is likely that some of the features will eventually find their way onto other TiVo platforms. They don't need to implement OCAP fully to reuse the code if they wanted - since they used the HME toolkit, and HME is already supported. Some new elements - specifically TiVoCast and Guru Guides - on the S2 (coming soon on the S3) are already implemented in HME and not 'native'. I asked about that and it is likely that some of the features will eventually find their way onto other TiVo platforms. They don’t need to implement OCAP fully to reuse the code if they wanted – since they used the HME toolkit, and HME is already supported. Some new elements – specifically TiVoCast and Guru Guides – on the S2 (coming soon on the S3) are already implemented in HME and not ‘native’.

]]> By: anonymoushttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1952 anonymous Tue, 09 Jan 2007 15:44:52 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1952 Wow! I really hope that the features on the Comcast/Cox boxes get migrated to the Series 3 (particularly the searching/UI changes). I wonder if the fact that the new features are implemented on OCAP means that they'll have to be completely re-implemented in order to make it over to the Series 3? Or if it signals that maybe TiVo may move to using OCAP on their own boxes as well in order to reduce the amount of code differences between the various machines they have to support? Wow! I really hope that the features on the Comcast/Cox boxes get migrated to the Series 3 (particularly the searching/UI changes). I wonder if the fact that the new features are implemented on OCAP means that they’ll have to be completely re-implemented in order to make it over to the Series 3? Or if it signals that maybe TiVo may move to using OCAP on their own boxes as well in order to reduce the amount of code differences between the various machines they have to support?

]]> By: mhaithacahttp://www.gizmolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/comment-page-1/#comment-1951 mhaithaca Tue, 09 Jan 2007 14:51:54 +0000 http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/01/09/tivo-for-comcast-and-cox-and-a-brief-summary-of-other-things/#comment-1951 Many thanks for taking the time to share all this! And I'm even more jealous that you got to see Penn and Teller than about the close-up TiVo stuff. :-) Many thanks for taking the time to share all this! And I’m even more jealous that you got to see Penn and Teller than about the close-up TiVo stuff. :-)

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